love by Rob Ryan...

french love quote

Qu'elle est la plus belle des femmes ? Celle dont on est amoureux!
(Proverbe chinois)

from my friend...

translated "Who is the nicest of women? The one who is loving!"

(Chinese Proverb)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! We're supposed to get 8-15' of snow this afternoon into tomorrow!

more love quotes...

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Lao Tzu

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
Mother Teresa

Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Voltaire

Love is the beauty of the soul.
Saint Augustine

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.
A. A. Milne

call to action

I just received an email from Organic Valley (my choice of organic milk and cheeses) informing me of the USDA's plan to approve Genetically Engineered Roundup resistant Alphalfa!

Here's some of the letter:

You may not think about alfalfa much when you're drinking organic milk, but organic alfalfa is important to organic farming, as a nourishing animal feed that's also a nitrogen-fixing soil enhancer. Once GE alfalfa is introduced, its contamination of non-GE plants - including organic - is all but inevitable. And because alfalfa is fed to dairy cows and other livestock, contamination puts organic dairy and meat at risk, too!

In their EIS, the USDA states "There is no evidence that consumers care about GE contamination of organic alfalfa." We know that you do care. Let's not be Monsanto's guinea pigs!

Now is your chance to be heard. Tell the USDA to protect organic food and farmers from GE contamination, and NOT TO APPROVE Monsanto's GE Alfalfa. Comments are due by February 16, 2010.

You CAN make a difference. Tell the USDA that you care about GE contamination and your right to GMO-free organic foods.

Learn more and get talking points on our website. Then take action at the Center for Food Safety, or submit comments online to the USDA directly.

After you write, let us know at rootstock@organicvalley.coop. We'll post some comments on our website to inspire others to speak out.

If you don't remember me writing about Monsanto and the horrible results of GMO seeds that they manufacture-- putting farmers out of business because their own seeds got contaminated with Monsanto's Roundup Resistant seed which is patented. They sue you if they find their seed in your field! Not to mention the bad things GMO's will do to us and to our environment. They are trying to control the world's food sources and wiping out the vast variety of seeds that exist naturally. This is WRONG and we all need to speak up as a society to put a stop to the greed that companies like this consistently pursue.

I wrote to the USDA directly. I just copied the talking points from Organic Valley's article. It took all of 2 minutes. I think that's barely any time to help make a change for all of us!!!

******

From True Food Network: The Center for Food Safety

posted January 15, 2010

Monsanto Takes Center for Food Safety Legal Victory to Highest Court

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a first-time case about the risks of genetically engineered crops. Named Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the case before the high court will be yet another step in an ongoing battle waged by the Center for Food Safety to protect consumers and the environment from potentially harmful effects of genetically engineered (GE) crops.

The modified alfalfa seed at the heart of the dispute has been engineered to be immune to Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup. Monsanto intervened in a 2007 federal district court ruling that the Department of Agriculture’s approval of GE alfalfa was illegal. The Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a 2006 lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of non-profits and farmers who wished to retain the choice to plant non-GE alfalfa. CFS was victorious in this case – in addition CFS has won two appeals by Monsanto in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: in 2008 and again in 2009. Now, upon Monsanto’s insistence, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

read more...

love quotes...

I thought I'd post something happy today! I will try to do this occasionally until Feb. 14th...

Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep... wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you' re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have YOU... The one who turns to his friends and says, thats her...

UNKNOWN

UNICEF hindering help for children

Alec & Ian in Haiti

I felt I needed to post about this because I couldn't believe what I was reading when my friend Terri posted this on her blog! UNICEF is not allowing the orpan children in Haiti to go the orphanages and hospitals to take care of them but keeping them in tent camps! This is outrageous to keep children from proper care just for their own self-interest. Terri's sister Stephanie has been in adoption proceedings for awhile now for her boys from Haiti and has written posts about what is happening. It makes my heart really sad and I hope that someone can do something about this tragedy. Putting the news out is one way to promote a change!

** At the end of this article there are two emails for people who work at UNICEF. I just emailed them about my concern for this issue.

**UPDATE: Christopher de Bono responded via email this morning: "Thanks for your email. What you are hearing is absolute nonsense." He should tell that to the people waiting for their adoptive children and who know what's going on.

it's coming...

Happy Groundhog Day! I guess our own Puxatony Phil saw his shadow and said that we will have 6 more weeks of winter today. That's not a surprise as we usually get most of our snow in February. And wouldn't you know, we just got a winter weather advisory that they expect the snow to come overnight! We'll see if it actually happens, but right now I'm ready to settle in, watch American Idol after dinner and maybe finish one of my books!

[The news of snow also inspired the little illustration above that I made with Adobe Illustrator!]